A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to holders used to store food and beverage materials while a person is engaged in another activity, such as watching a sporting event or other stadium activity. In particular, this invention relates to holders used to store food and beverages that are suitable for use in places where there is not much room for such holders. Even more particularity, the present invention relates to such holders that are useful for mounting on the standard of a seat without protruding into the walkway aisle between rows of seats.
B. Background
Many people attend events, such as sporting games, concerts, automobile races and the like, that are held in stadiums, arenas and theaters and other performance facilities having multiple rows of seats. Although in the past the seating arrangements in these facilities often consisted of benches or open seating, the increased popularity in use of these facilities, particularly for professional sporting events, has led to significant improvements in seating arrangements. For instance, most of these performance facilities now utilize chair seats that are mounted on a seat standard for increased comfort and enjoyment of the activity taking place. These seats are typically formed in a plurality of rows emanating from the playing or performing surface upward on an inclined or stepped-up portion of the facility such that each row of seats further away from the field or performing surface is higher than the row in front of it in order to improve the viewing of those persons in the seats behind other rows. In between the rows are aisles for walking and placing one""s feet. Generally, the seats used for these facilities are capable of having the bottom or seating portion folded up against the upright or back portion in order to permit safe ingress and egress through the aisles.
It is well known that persons attending sporting or other events at performance facilities such as stadiums and the like often desire to purchase food and beverages from the vendors at such facilities for consumption during the sporting or other event. A common problem arising from the purchase and subsequent consumption of food and beverages is where to place the food and drink while the person is watching the game or performance. People generally do not desire to constantly hold the food or beverage products in their hands, even if they are capable of holding such products, while the game or performance is taking place. Many persons enjoy showing emotion or enjoyment of the event taking place by utilizing their hands for clapping, waving or other activity. For younger persons, holding on to the drink or food product can be particularly difficult. Even if a person is capable of holding on to these products, the hot or cold nature of the food or beverage generally discourages the constant holding of the product.
As a result of the problems associated with holding on to the food and beverage products, they are typically placed on the floor below the seat, between the seats or in the aisle. An obvious problem with such placement of food and beverages is that persons moving in the aisle or even those sitting in their seats can and do tend to knock over these products. Besides wasting the money spent on the food or drink and causing frustration with having to either do without or go get new products, the spillage of the food or beverage creates a mess that is generally lived with for the duration of the sporting event or performance and which must be cleaned up by the facility cleaning crews after the sporting event or performance is over. Often the mess migrates from the person whose food or beverage product was spilled to the seating area of persons located nearby, including those in rows in front of where the product spilled. Naturally, this reduces the enjoyment of the activity for the person who loses their food or beverage product and those located nearby where the mess migrates and creates additional expense, in the form of clean-up costs, for the facility managers or owners.
Various food and beverage holders have been developed to provide a location for persons to place their food and drink products to eliminate the problems described above. Providing a food and beverage holder for use in stadiums, arenas, theaters and other such performance facilities requires a solution to the problem of holder placement without interfering with the spectators moving in and out of the rows of seats along the aisle. Any such holder must balance the convenience for the holder for the person using the holder with the need to avoid taking up space in the aisle. The preferred way of accomplishing this objective is to take advantage of the inclined nature of the seat backs in front of the aisle and the space created below the top of the seat and above the aisle floor. For safety and functional purposes, the horizontally projecting portion of the holder should not extend past the invisible vertical plane where the top edge of the seat leans backward so as to not project into the aisle behind the seat any further than the back of the seat. Many state, county or local ordinances require that there be a minimum distance between the lowered seat bottom of seats in the rearward aisle and the upright seat back of the seats in the forward aisle and that any projection on the seats in front not protrude into this minimum space. For instance, some ordinances (i.e., fire codes) require a minimum of twelve (12) inches for this clear space.
A number of patents have issued for food and beverage holders for use in performance facilities described above. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,421,638 to Ayotte, et al. discloses a seat attachment for mounting to the seat brackets, used to support the seat backs, which extend from the standard of a stadium seat. The device has a cup holder and a pair of arms extending from the cup holder that attach to the standard utilizing the bolts used to mount the seat backs to the brackets. The device is installed by removing the seat back bolts, placing the attachment against the standard and then re-inserting the bolts back into the seat backs through the brackets. While this patent does provide a cup holder useful for stadium seats, the installation of the attachment appears to be difficult due to the number and location of bolts to be removed and then reinstalled. U.S. Pat. No. 4,466,659 to Carpentier, et al. discloses a tray holder for holding food and beverages which attaches to the back of stadium seats using a belt and clamps. This device folds up to permit access through the aisle when not in use. Both the attachment mechanism and the structural configuration of this patent are considerably different than the present invention.
Other patents also show that it is known to connect a food and/or beverage holder to a stadium-type of seat. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 2,932,544 to Lambert, U.S. Pat. No. 3,042,467 to Germick and U.S. Pat. No. 2,817,566 to Herman disclose other type of fold-up trays which attach to the backs or arms of seats. The attachment mechanism disclosed in these patents and the manner of folding and supporting the projecting tray are considerably different than the present invention. U.S. Pat. No. 1,893,458 to Tatum, U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,010 to Fujiwara, U.S. Pat. No. 2,278,014 to Olivant and U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,381 to Brenna disclose food and/or beverage holders that attach to the back of a seat. The structure of these patents are considerably different than the present invention. A related patent, U.S. Pat. No. 2,807,315 to Manne, discloses that it is known to mount a holder (in this instance a book holder) to the standard between the seats using a pair of xe2x80x9cclipsxe2x80x9d bolted onto the standard. This invention requires a hole to be drilled through the standard for insertion of the bolt for the clips. As such, it differs from the present invention.
The existing art, both individually and in all appropriate combinations, show that the broad concept of providing a food and beverage holder suitable for attachment to a stadium seat or standard is well known. On the other hand, none of the known references show an easy to mount food/beverage holder that is suitable for use in stadium seating without interfering with ingress and egress through the aisles between the seats. What is needed is a convenient food and beverage holder that is adaptable for installation in stadiums and the like that is easy to install, does not require modifications to existing seating equipment and which does not project so far into the aisle as to present a problem with ingress and egress through the aisle.
The food and beverage holder of the present invention provides the benefits and solves the problems identified above. Specifically, the present invention discloses a relatively easy to install food and beverage holder for attachment to seat standards commonly used in stadium and other performance facilities. The holder of the present invention provides a convenient place for the person utilizing such facilities to place his or her food and drink products without causing ingress and egress problems for persons moving through the aisle. The holder of the present invention should substantially reduce the number of spills that result from persons moving through the aisles or shuffling their feet while sitting. This will reduce the spilling of food and beverage products and the cost of cleaning up messes resulting from such spills.
The present invention primarily comprises a center receptacle having an upper end, a lower end, a front side, a back side and a pair of opposing side ends. The upper end has a first opening for receiving one or more food or beverage products in the center receptacle. A generally vertical base member is attached to the back side of the center receptacle and a clamp member is attached to the base member. The clamp member has a pair of gripping arms extending rearwardly from the base member and one or more connectors interconnecting the pair of griping arms to connect the food and beverage holder to the object to which it is to be mounted (i.e., the standard used with stadium seats) without requiring the connectors to penetrate or alter the object. In the preferred embodiment, the holder has a side receptacle attached to at least one of the opposing side ends of the center receptacle. Like the center receptacle, the side receptacle has an upper end, a lower end, a front side, a back side and a pair of opposing side ends. The upper end has a second opening for receiving one or more food or beverage products in the side receptacle.
In the preferred embodiment, which utilizes a pair of side receptacles attached to the center receptacle, the side ends of the center receptacle have side receiving components configured into the center receptacle to slidably receive a center insert that is located on the side receptacle. An adhesive is used to fixedly attach the center insert of the side receptacle to the side receiving component of the center receptacle. The front sides of the center and side receptacles are adaptable for displaying visible promotional materials thereon. The bottom ends of the center and side receptacles have an opening to allow the drainage of fluid, such as rain, soda or wash fluid, therefrom.
In installing the holder of the present invention, the clamping member is attached the base member and then to the object on which the holder will be used with the connectors that also tightly close the gripping arms. An adhesive material is then sprayed onto the base member. The center receptacle is then slid upward onto the base member until a stop member on the base member prevents further upward movement of the center receptacle. An adhesive spray is then applied to the sides of the center receptacle and/or the side receptacle itself. Then the side receptacles are slid onto the center receptacle. The adhesive used for installing the holder should allow the receptacles to slide and then set in place to form a single holder unit. The receptacles and the final unit should be sized and configured to not extend into the aisle behind the row of seats to which the holder is being attached. In this manner, the holder of the present invention provides a place for those attending events held at a stadium, arena, theater or the like to safely and conveniently hold their food and beverages while they watch the event taking place.
Accordingly, the primary objective of the present invention is to provide a food and beverage holder that attaches to seat standards to effectively hold food and beverage products so they do not interfere with movement of persons through the aisles between the rows of seats.
It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide a food and beverage holder that is easy to install on seat standards utilized in stadiums, arenas, theaters and the like without requiring modification or alteration of the seats or seat standards.
It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide a food and beverage holder that has one or more compartments for holding food and/or beverages attached to a base member having an attachment mechanism for attachment to the typical seat standards utilized in stadiums, arenas, theaters and the like.
It is also an important objective of the present invention to provide a food and beverage holder that can be manufactured in separate components for easy packaging and shipping, but which permits quick assembly that is adaptable for installation on either ends of a row of seats.
The above and other objectives of the present invention will be explained in greater detail by reference to the figures and the description of the preferred embodiment which follows. As set forth herein, the present invention resides in the novel features of form, construction, mode of operation and combination of parts presently described and understood by the claims.